


its 2am and i havent slept

by rag__tag



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Lowkey hurt/comfort, M/M, My First Work in This Fandom, Reuniting, brief mentions of overwatch golden era and sep days, i doubt it tho, i might properly tag this tomorrow, they're both old men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-21
Updated: 2017-10-21
Packaged: 2019-01-20 22:04:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12442719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rag__tag/pseuds/rag__tag
Summary: (best title ikr)Soldier: 76 recounts what just happened during a brawl with a gang of misfits in a small town. After realizing that there was an uninvited guest to the fight, memories start returning (and a certain edgelord decides to follow him).





	its 2am and i havent slept

**Author's Note:**

> hEYY GUYS THIS IS BABY'S FIRST OVERWATCH FANFICTION PLS CUT ME SOME SLACK  
> I'm still trying to learn how to write these characters, so yeah pls be soft  
> and its late at night too so uhh yeah
> 
> its hard to write two super soldiers when your previous fandom involved you writing about gay scientists
> 
> also this is very heavy on headcanons, its probably ooc as fuck but ah well.

The sunlight from the burning dawn sun was splitting through the sky, erasing inky black away to a soft blue, almost blinding for those who were so used to spending a vast majority of their time lurking in the darkness. Stereotypically, the citizens of this relatively small but well-developed town wouldn’t suspect to hear such a ruckus happening at such a quiet, sleepy time in the morning, but regardless of how many disturbances occurred, the people didn’t bother.  
Even if the ruckus was as bad as a full-scale brawl that had very little build-up to it.

 

It all started when there was a small gang hanging around the barren alleyways, where their only company (aside from each other) was normally a large bin for the back of a restaurant or some kind of retail shopping centre located in the area. The gang’s name wasn’t well known, but they were notorious for regularly causing riots around the nooks and crannies of tight alleyways to wide, open city centres. The town referred to the gang’s apparel to some sort of ‘dress code’, noting how they all seemed to either have the same black clothes with white or neon markings accompanied by skull-resembling face paint. Some called those men the _monsters that kept them up at night_. Others referred to them as misfits, full stop. 

On top of the fact that there was a small trouble-causing gang in the middle of a small town, there was another figure wondering around the premises. The people didn’t just say this man was dangerous, but they said he was almost like a one-man army. It wasn’t just an exceptionally powerful misfit from the gang, but it was the world-known (and wanted) vigilante, Soldier: 76. No one knew who Soldier: 76 was, what he wanted, nor what he was intentions were. All they knew was that they were trying to get someone (or a group of people) to stop this vigilante in his tracks and get information from him.

 

As expected, no one in the town had any idea why Soldier: 76 was scouting the area. He had been doing so for about a day now, and no one had actually spotted him yet. Much like a lot of the towns in the world, the governments spent too much time talking rather than actually doing in terms of trying to stop this vigilante. 

 

The citizens wondered; _why was there such a catastrophe during the night?_ It started when the gang were caught by Soldier: 76. They claimed they were trying to protect the town, but in reality, they were configuring how to set off an explosive to try and inflict damage on the town and its infrastructure; typical rebellious misfit things. The notorious vigilante stopped them in their tracks and took matters into his own hands; and the end product of his actions weren’t necessarily pretty. Limp bodies weren’t a nice sight to see if one were to peer into the alleyway while walking along.

 

 

Soldier: 76 had dropped onto the floor, his back pressed up against the cold bricks that the sun had yet to warm up. He was exhausted after such a lengthy brawl; although he won and regularly got an extremely small amount of sleep, his older age was beginning to catch up to him. Even though he had at least another fifty years to go, thanks to the SEP, it didn’t mean that it necessarily held off the physical effects of growing old. He really needed to rush ahead and get moving in a few hours, before the public came out and saw him, but he really needed to take some time to anchor himself back down to the real world. He brought his hands up to the sides of his visor, clicking buttons at the back of it and putting it down, revealing his face, revealing a damaged, aged version of the person he used to be. The hero that everyone originally knew him as. He rubbed his eyes, trying to recount what happened in that brawl.  
_Okay, so, I ran into these misfits. Of course, they were being little shits, trying to blow up the place, and it was only right for me to stop them._ He stopped himself in his tracks and realize; _why_ did he do that? He was simply a vigilante looking for answers; not the hero he was. He had to keep referring back to that one statement; Jack Morrison was gone. The hero, the world-recognized Strike Commander of Overwatch, the idol, the man, was gone. All was left was a shallow husk of what that man was.

As he kept recounting what happened, a sour realization came to him.  
During that brawl he had initiated, it started off as the six of them; five younger men in the gang and himself. But he subconsciously picked up on the fact that a seventh person had joined in; but he never recalled them fighting against _him_. The main thing that bothered him was that there was DEFINITELY someone there, it wasn’t just him going nuts, and that person fought the gang but not him. He tried all of what was in his power to try and remember who or what it was, but it was no use.

 

The sunlight was creeping in stronger and stronger, and Soldier: 76 thought that it would be a good idea to put his trusty tactical visor back on and to get up and head off. Once he had followed through with that idea, he made his way out of the town, trying to get away from where he had temporarily settled himself. 

Something was extremely unnerving about his walk out of town; ever since he thought about that seventh person, he felt like something was following him. He looked back; there was no one there. He kept walking, and swore he heard footsteps behind him. It kept happening, until he heard a gunshot. Thanks to his fast reflexes, Soldier: 76 successfully dodged the ammo that shot from the gun; they weren’t just bullets. They looked like small pellets that let off a black smoke every time they flew from the gun. He looked ahead, and his suspicions were correct; he WAS being followed.

“Fancy seeing you again, boy scout.”  
Soldier: 76 immediately recognized the voice and the figure.

“Reaper.” He muttered under his breath. Another shot from the Reaper’s gun, another dodge. 

“Too intimidated to speak up for yourself, huh?” Reaper slowly moved forward, and Soldier: 76 violently pushed him away.

“Don’t get fucking near me.” The Reaper cackled, that rough voice vibrating from his throat. He tossed his guns to the ground and cracking his knuckles. Soldier: 76 coughed, and shoved his nemesis again.

“Rack off. I’m not wasting my time on another fight with y- _fuck!_ ” A sharp punch was thrown at where his jaw would be through his visor. That was enough to rile Soldier: 76 up enough. He yelled, leaping at the dark figure and pinning him to the floor. The Reaper retaliated with ease; digging his claws into the vigilante’s shoulders and forcing him off, sending him toppling back. Out of what seemed from nowhere, The Reaper pulled out another pair of guns. Soldier: 76 knew he had no time to question where that bastard seemed to magically pull his guns out of; all he knew was that he had to stop this guy from stopping him. After a few seconds, he went to recover from the shove, but only ended up being grazed by those pesky little hellfire bullets. They burned through his shoulder, causing him to groan. Regardless of that annoying sting, he recovered anyway. He was thankful that the shot wasn’t done up close; it only would have been more painful. 

“You decide to invest your time in fighting me, yet you think it’s fair to pull out your guns when your foe doesn’t have theirs?”

“My logic is none of your business.” Soldier: 76 shook his head, then threw a punch to Reaper’s jaw. He stunned Reaper for a moment, earning a loud, irritated scowl out of him. It almost sounded as if he were… worried? He shook the thought off, and tried to throw another one. It didn’t land, as Reaper dodged and managed to shove the vigilante with his elbow.

 

Their fight kept going along like this for a long time; not as long as the brawl with the gang, but long enough until Soldier: 76 pulled off an act he thought would never be possible.

Right there, in the heat of the brawl, Soldier: 76 somehow managed to lodge his fingers underneath Reaper’s mask, and kicked him in the stomach. Much to his utter surprise, he had ripped the figure’s mask clean off his head. Out of absolute shock and horror, he dropped the mask, the accessory clattering on the cement ground. Reaper was metres away, looking down, his hood covering what could have been left of his face. Soldier: 76 tried to get a closer look. Reminding himself of what had happened in the past, he assumed that Reaper was going to either shadow step away or run off. But he didn’t move. Not an inch. Soldier: 76 knew that he was irritated by this man; he hated him; he wanted him to leave him alone. But a deep, subtle but burning feeling in his gut made him almost feel bad for being the culprit of this act. He knew that the Reaper found his mask important, but he didn’t know why. 

“Aren’t going to try and land another hit on me? When I’m at my weakest?”

“You’re just going to run off like a coward if I do. Because you lost your _precious mask_.” 

Soldier: 76’s eyebrows furrowed when he saw the Reaper flinch at his words. Really? Now he was emotionally weak to words? Seemed as if the reincarnate of death would forever be a mystery, even to lone vigilantes that wanted information as to what happened in the event that killed the younger version of themselves and birthed what they had turned into now. He so badly wanted to get up and move, to try and attack him, but that same feeling came back to his gut.

“… This is probably the worst mistake I’ve made in my life, but.. well, fuck, here it goes.” The Reaper lifted his head.

 

Soldier: 76 couldn’t comprehend what was going on. One moment, he was looking at a face, but another moment later, he was looking at something he hadn’t seen for years.  
It was something he had familiarized himself with ever since he just turned eighteen. A face he had seen on an everyday basis. It would seem out of place to not see it back in those golden days. When everything was polished and sugar-coated for the public to see, before it all went down to shit.  
He’d think that the Reaper’s face would be something he’d associate with fear, death, horror, and just downright evil. He was oh so very wrong.

It looked like a face he used to associate with trust, comradeship, bravery… no. That was something that Jack Morrison would associate with that face. 

And sweet lord, his eyes. They haven’t changed a single bit. Those dark hazel, almost crimson-hued eyes that his own cornflower blue eyes would meet every day. 

 

Soldier: 76 couldn’t handle it anymore. All of these emotions that had subconsciously piled up over the years had come crashing down on him, and hard. With trembling hands, he took off his visor and looked up at Reaper.  
But this wasn’t just Soldier: 76 revealing himself. This was Jack Morrison showing the love of his life, Gabriel Reyes, that he was still alive. 

 

Jack knew he was never the one to be very sentimental, but he couldn’t stop the tears welling up in his eyes. He knew that his next words were going to make him sound stupid.

“Gabe… My poor Gabe… What happened to you?” Gabriel also seemed shocked.

 

All of those months of experiments and brainwashing, all gone to shit. Gabriel knew that Talon used him as their first lab rat when they found his body after the explosion at the Swiss HQ. He had always known he had been brainwashed, but it wasn’t until now that he remembered exactly what was going on. He felt his guilt of joining Talon begin crashing down hard on his shoulders that he almost wanted to physically drop onto his knees.  
This was going to be hard.

“I… It was those fucking bastards. Fuck. Fuck this. This is absolute bullshit. There’s no going back.”

“What?” Jack seemed genuinely confused. Seeing those tears beginning to run down his face only made Gabriel feel worse. 

“They fucked me up. It all started when fuckin’ Ziegler thought it’d be fun to try and bring her old friends back. Then they just.. fuck. This is wrong. This shouldn’t have happened. I shouldn’t’ be exposing myself to you like this—”  
The air was knocked out of him when Jack grabbed his lower arms, bringing him closer.

“It’s you. It’s really you. I.. I can’t fuckin believe it..” That was when Gabriel snapped, too. The floodgates opened to heaps of memories rushing back. All of those days back in the SEP where no one seemed to give a shit, then to their golden days in Overwatch, then to Jack’s promotion, when everything went down to shit. He could feel his own tears welling up in his eyes; it felt so wrong. He shouldn’t be craving physical affection from someone else like this. Especially not that vigilante he’s been hunting down for years.

 

But it was Jack.  
How could he NOT be craving that affection?

 

They both decided to say fuck all, and they collapsed onto each other, holding each other like it was the end of the world.

“This is fucked. I’m tired. I just want to sit down and stop all of this. I just want you.”

“Me too, Jackie. Me too. I’m gonna make this work. I don’t care if Talon hunts my arse down. I’m gonna make this work.”

“I.. I trust you. You guys at Blackwatch always seemed more trust-worthy than good ol’ sugar-coated fraud-filled Overwatch.”

“Well, no shit Sherlock.” For the first time in years, Jack felt a small grin tug on his lips.

“Obviously. Either way, I know I’m going to see you again. I trust you. I trust this idea.”

“Good.” They both remained silent for a few more moments, before Gabriel spoke up again.

“Well, shit, I should head off. I need to keep this thing going with Talon before I can actually part from ‘em. But for the meantime… don’t forget about this, okay? We’re gonna see eachother again. We’re gonna settle this.”

“I hope all goes well. I’ll see you around.” Again, they were silent for a few moments until…

“I know there’s a lot of shit between us we need to discuss, but regardless of all of the bullshit and toxicity from before we need to sort out, I still love you, cariño.” Gabriel gently smooched Jack’s forehead before snatching up his mask and shadow stepping away.

 

Soldier: 76 knew that he had to keep up that façade of his, but he was relieved to know that it wasn’t going to be kept up for long. After years and years, he was actually going to have a second chance with his lover.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope it was decent!


End file.
